"Inside the Actor's Studio" is a great show on Bravo where host James Lipton interviews prominent actors about their influences, acting styles, recent films or shows, etc. I especially love the part of the show when Lipton asks the actor the famous "Pivot Questionnaire" (and if you think it's not famous, then maybe Al Gore shouldn't have won an Oscar).
Anyway, there are 10 set questions Lipton asks each guest, and my favorite question is "What is your favorite curse word?" Tom Hanks answered "Apesh*t." I think my dad's favorite is "horsesh*t." But mine is dumbass. It has a precise, concise meaning. No misunderstanding here.
Twice today, I had the pleasure of explaining the value of cursing like a scholar rather than a sailor. Sailors are notorious for cursing a blue streak - that is, without rhyme or reason (though rhymed swearing may not get you far unless you're a misogynistic rapper). No, I said to one individual who thought he was enlightened about his use of the F-word, its use as practically every part of speech actually makes it a less useful word. I don't think that the F-word is very handy as an expletive. While dexterous, it lacks the precision necessary to be effective.
Just like words in the thesaurus, if you don't actually know how to use them, they just make you sound like a dumbass.
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Well said! I believe I disclosed in a comment on one of Kacie’s posts that unfortunately my all-time favorite curse is motherf%$#*er. It rolls off the tongue well and while extremely vulgar, cannot be misunderstood. This is a point of shame, not pride for me. If you’re an Anglican, you may consider this a confession, but as a apostate non-denominationalist I just call it crap from my past.
I completely agree with you...dropping an F-bomb every other word is not only insulting, but it truly shows the speaker's lack of creativity and vocabulary. An F-bomb has NO scholarly value...as demonstrated in the following sentence. Notice the F-bomb can be used as the verb, adjective, AND noun: "Eff the effing effer". See what I mean? It's the epitome of dilution. :)
I think my second-favorite curse word is "kick-ass" which, to some degree, is sort of an opposite to dumbass.
We had a friend from California come out a few months ago and he says everything "kicks ass" and that got me hooked. I think I like that particular curse word because it's so positive and most of the others are really negative, and I'm a positive person.
But, I do now get a good laugh when my husband Phil calls something a "sh*tbox" (that one is compliments of "Best in Show" and Phil uses it usually to refer to crappy little houses or cars or something. It cracks me up.
Okay, one more -- I can't get enough of Jack Bauer randomly screaming "DAMMIT!" all the time on "24." Every time he does it, I say, "Man, that sh*tbox Jack kicks ass!"
I tried to stay out of this one... but I feel like an authority!
I won't go in to the whole diatribe that I have prepared for such an occasion as this (because I feel like you already said it all).
I want to chime in with my favorite cuss word. I feel like the most under-utilized naughty word would be 'punkass'. I don't think that it is 2 words and if it is I feel like it should be said in one fluid motion as if it were spelled as one... At any rate, punkass is descriptive and suitably insulting without being too crass.
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